GelmanSpec Chat

Labor History Research Center Hosts Progressive Student Union Program on Wage Theft

The Teamsters Labor History Research Center hosted a Progressive Student Union program on wage theft on April 24, 2014. Hannah Kane, an employment justice organizer for the Employment Justice Center, led the program, describing various forms of wage theft such as improperly logged hours, unpaid overtime, tips theft, working off the clock and paying less than minimum wage. She also addressed where wage theft mainly takes place: in security and construction jobs, and in restaurant and cleaning work. The group of students in attendance then broke into smaller groups to discuss the cases of five victims of wage theft, covering questions such as which of the worker’s rights were violated, was the worker successful in demanding his or her rights, and is the employer incentivized or deincentivized to continue to commit wage theft? The larger group then reassembled to report out on the smaller group discussions.